that's it for the first hour. stay tuned. mari maria's interview with steny hour. hour two gets under way right now. see you tomorrow. and it is 4:00 on wall street. do you know where your money is? hi, everybody. welcome back to "closing bell." i'm maria bartiromo on the floor of the new york stock exchange. another enormous hour ahead. coming up, will democrats and republicans be able to reach a debt deal before the nation falls off the fiscal cliff? steny hoyer is with me. then, what's next for aig now that the government is no longer a majority shareholder? i'll be talking to the boss. also with us, former new york city mayor rudy giuliani. this market rallying on wall street. the stock market rebounding after the losses yesterday. the dow up for the fourth time in the past five trading

sessions. it is closing just shy of the highest level in nearly five years tonight. optimism that the federal reserve is going to be there lane take new steps to stimulate the economy and we'll get the news this thursday. take a look at how we're settling on wall street. 571 million shares traded at the big board. nasdaq picked up a fraction. just about where it opens, 3104. once again, money moving into financials today as the momentum continue there is. stocks higher as investors eye key government decisions this week from both sides of the atlantic. for example, tomorrow jgermany' top court is handsing out a decision on whether europe legally bailed out countries. then here at home, the federal reserve kicks off a two-day meeting on interest rates wednesday and thursday. here to help us break down the markets and what to expect from these important meetings, carol

roth and bruce mccain. >> hi, maria. >> good to see you all. thank you for joining us. david, let me kick it off with you. lots of moving parts this week. we have the key legal ruling in europe and the federal reserve. what are you expecting? what's most important sp ? what kind of results might we see on thursday? >> it's the fed. the fed is the straw that's stirring the market's drink. the fed is going to look and said, quite simply, job growth week. the fed is going to have to be more stimulative by providing more reserves to the banking system. it all rests on the fed. >> you're expecting an extension of operation, more positive language. how does this materialize? we all know where rates are. they can't do much more on that, right? >> no, they can't. what they can do is simple market operations, which is buy securities, put reserves into the banking system, hope and

anticipate that the banks will become more willing lenders, and that will get the economy better and velocity higher. that's what needs to happen because again, what you and vi talked about briefly, $800 billion tax bill coming due on january 1st. the fed is the only game in town. >> bruce, what's your take? what do you look for? >> i don't think that the fed's going to disappoint. i think they'll provide some sort of stimulus. i think the broader question for long-term investors is what that does for the economy and ultimately for the markets. at this point, there's a lot of positive priced into this market. we don't think given the speed of growth in the economy that you have to be chasing stocks, but watch for good entry points and try to take good, solid, long-term positions. >> long-term positions where? multinationals? dividend payers? >> we think things are improving overseas. it's going to be a while before they really turn in the emerging markets, even in europe. we're starting to see

improvement. i think moving back into those markets will be a big story for next year. >> carol, markets brushed off moody's warning today. another warning of a possible downgrade. why isn't this getting more play in the market, do you think? >> congress has been ignoring the debt levels for years and years and years. why should anybody pay attention now? i think that the market is very aware of the situation, but more importantly, it's very hard to act on this information without knowing the outcome of the elections. the outcome of the elections are going to dictate what happens in terms of the fiscal policy, in terms of the policy to bring that debt down in a logical manner that doesn't also slow down growth. so i think that the markets aren't going to pay attention to this information until november when we know who ends up in the white house and senate. >> we'll be watching that. thanks, everybody. appreciate your time. we had a strong stock market today. has been seeing a lot of momentum. that's good news for the president. so is this. a new poll shows voters trust

the president more to handle the economy. the margin may be slim, but it wipes out an advantage that mitt romney once had. scott spurly is with me. the first private equity executive to voice his support for romney. what does he say about all of these poll results? scott is with me right now. scott, good to see you. >> thank you, maria. >> the romney/ryan ticket has put economics and debt reduction, job creation front and center. now this new "washington post," abc poll said people think the president is handling the economy, can handle it better than romney. >> well, i think there's clear lay good benefit coming out of the democratic national convention that particularly based on president clinton's speech affects the way people think about the economic activities of the current administration, and i think that's what you're seeing reflected in this poll. i think the reality, though, comes back to what does it take

to get this country moving again? what do we do in order to create jobs? there's nothing that is more important than creating jobs in order to sustain and, in fact, to create economic growth. it is not true that a deep recession leads to the kind of sluggish economic growth that we've seen the last few years. we're seeing a decelerating job creation market. we are seeing an economy that's slowed down pretty close to stall levels. those are direct results of government policies and the approach that this current administration has taken. i think when people step back and they look at the choice between, is everything that we're doing as a government, is it all about taking from some so others can have a little bit? in other words, we have 43 million americans who are now dependent on food stamps. >> right. >> we need to have a strong safety net. the reality is people can't

depend upon small amounts of unemployment insurance and the other parts of the social safety net to provide them and their families what they need and what they want and what we've always expected people would get in the united states of america. that only comes from the private sector. that's where, i think, the romney approach, people will find to be the right one. >> this market has been rallying. of course, it seems to be working in obama's favor, even though it's probably has a lot more to do with the central bank and all of the easing out there than it does to the policies. is there any reason to believe that if this president is re-elected, then he moves to the center that, he does the policies that you're talking about that romney, of course, has been leading with? >> i think that's been my greatest disappointment, that we have not seen this government move more to a centerous approach to move the country

forward. there were numerous opportunities to do that. i just don't think it aligns with where the president would like to take the country. there's one approach that says static pie, let's figure out how to split it up. that's the approach that's being taken. when they say we're all in this together, we're all in this together, but we're going to take from you and give to you. what we're not going to do it put in place a set of policies that grow the pie in a way that all americans, particularly those that have been struggling, actually can get what they need, which is a job and a better future for their family. >> right. well, the redistribution of wealth has been a center piece for the obama administration. no doubt about it. let's talk jobs. you're blaming the government policies for where we are and this lack of job creation. that number last month was horrible. there's cash on the sidelines. we've seen evidence that no matter the tax rate, businesses are paying below the actual rate. is it an excuse? how do you justify some folks paying lower taxes, which of

course infuriates the masses, and gets this class warfare going even more so? >> there are is many quote, unquote facts out there that happen not to be facts, that happen not to be real. the reality is that we now have a situation where we have a very complex tax code. everyone views it as unfair. yet, almost half of our people are not paying any federal income tax whatsoever. >> 50%, that's right. >> there's another large element of complexity that is government, in fact, interfering in the way the private market works. in ways, that's not productive, but lets some players get more favorable tax treatment than others. the approach that romney has advocated, that we think will work to stimulate this country, is simplify the tax system, bring down rates, but get rid of all this complexity and all the special treatment that occurs so

people will see it's fair and let the marginal dollar flow back into the private sector. and it's not just tax rates. >> right. >> it's also the inefficiency that comes with government versus the private sector making these types of decisions, the philosophy behind that, and the enormous regulatory regime that's been put in place that doesn't actually solve the problems of '07 and '08. that's one of the most frustrating things. it adds enormous cost, which means companies can either spend money on trying to follow the regulatory regime or they can try to have money that's available to invest in fact ris and invest in jobs. that's what we need. >> that uncertainty, of course, has stopped them from putting that money to work. scott, good to have you on the program. thank you so much. >> you're very welcome. >> keep it right here. former new york city mayor rudy giuliani up next on this special 9/11 edition of the "closing bell." back in a moment. coming up, america's mayor,

rudy giuliani joins maria with his take on what he would do if faced with the teacher strike currently gripping the windy city. also, ensuring the future. aig now almost completely free of government ownership after its disastrous fall in 2008. robert benmosche joins maria exclusively to talk about the future of the insurance giant. plus, let's get fiscal. >> the senate, at some point, has to act. on both of these, where's the president? where's the leadership? >> house minority rep steny hoyer answers tough questions about washington's stalemate over the fiscal cliff. and what the zuck? the facebook ceo faces investor questions for the first time after the company's less than stellar ipo. is there anything he can say to right the sagging stock? that's all ahead on the "closing bell."

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welcome back. my next guest was the mayor of new york city when the terrorists struck on 9/11, 11 years ago. for those of us in new york on that terrible day and the weeks that followed, his leadership will always be remembered. of course, i'm talking about rudy giuliani, former new york city mayor. he's here now with us. he's at the new york stock exchange with members of tuesday's children, an organization that serves the families of first responders. mr. mayor, good to see you again. >> nice to see you. >> thank you for joining us. earlier today you expressed dismay that 11 years later, the 9/11 memorial museum is not open. are you optimistic it will get done soon? >> i spoke to both governors and the mayor. they said they've reached an agreement. i'm going to be optimistic it will get done. it was going to be done for this year. then in october, only three or four weeks after the tenth anniversary, the dispute started over who was going to pay what. that ended all work for 11

months. hopefully now that they've reached an agreement on how they're going to fund it, we'll see it ready for next year. i'm hoping that's the case. i'm speaking for me as i am speaking for the families, so many of them are looking forward to. they were so disappointed. i just hope they use that to make sure they get it done this time. >> aside from the delayed museum, how do you feel about where we are today? you know, 11 years ago i remember interviewing you on the floor of the new york stock exchange. there was such pride in the air that we were coming back. where do you think we are today in new york, as a country, usa, since 9/11? >> first of all, they should put a statue to dick russo on the floor of the exchange. >> he did an unbelievable job. >> well, people don't know this. i know the inside story. he anticipated that kind of a thing happening in the stock exchange and got it ready. we could never have gotten it back in three, four days without

that. getting it back, really, i think re-established the american economy. i remember walking down here that monday morning. i wasn't sure it was all going to work. when it did, it really was a big lift when we absolutely needed it. i think we're better off now in the sense that we're better prepared for the kind of an attack that happened then. i think in some ways we're worse off. our port security is nowhere where it should be. iran is getting dan inting dang close to becoming a nuclear power. i don't think we've appreciated how dangerous that will be for us. we keep concentrating on iran using missiles. they're handing nuclear material off to the terrorists that they're sponsoring right now. they could do that in a second and can lie about it. >> unbelievable. >> then we could have a bomb in new york, london, miami, los angeles, paris, you name it. >> so we still have obviously a lot to do. >> logistics. it's not just their using missiles, it's their handing material off to terrorists. >> that's extraordinary.

these pictures we were showing from 9/11, they're very, very difficult to watch. it's actually amazing we survived what we did. let me switch gears a bit, if you'll allow me to. i want to get your take on an important event in chicago. it's teachers in chicago on strike right now. the issues are not new. we're talking about pay, benefits, evaluating teachers. what's your reaction to what's going on in chicago? >> first of all, i wouldn't say teachers. i'd say the teachers union. i personally don't believe teachers have the right to strike. i don't think the police do, the army. i worked for ronald reagan. when the air traffic controllers went on strike, he said let me see the oath. how can i allow them to go on strike? suppose the army goes on strike. suppose the police go on strike. teachers shouldn't be able to go on strike. they should have compulsory bargaining. who gets hurt here? put the politicians on one side. put the union and the teachers on the other. kids get hurt. what are they striking over? they want a 16% raise.

who's getting a 16% raise today? and they don't want to be evaluated. this is like saying, if i bat .200, i want to be paid the same as someone batti inting .5. who can run anything without evaluating the people who work for you? i couldn't possibly run my business if i couldn't evaluate the people that work for me. couldn't run the city if i couldn't have evaluated the people that work for me. you want to run a school system where, i don't know, 70, 80% aren't at grade level in chicago. that's a disgrace. that's what they should be strike over. they should be striking over the fact those kids aren't getting a good education. >> they want the raise, but they also can't be fired. >> and their performance is disgraceful. 60, 70% can't do math, can't do english at grade level. they should be ashamed of themselves. >> you've endorsed mitt romney for president. >> i have. >> of course, his idea very clearly different than mr. obama's idea. a poll we've been mentioning today has the president now leading mitt romney on his dealings for the economy.

i was actually very surprised at this because romney/ryan have put the economy and economic issues at the front burner. the president has the confidence. >> i think that's sort of an effect of the convention and the more favorable coverage he got for his convention than mitt romney. i think this is a neck and neck election. i really don't think the people of america really trust the president on the economy. the numbers that came out last week were catastrophic. 360,000 people leave the work roles. i mean, the only reason we were at 8.1% unemployment is not because anybody got jobs. because people quit. they just stopped working. >> they stopped looking. >> they're not going to look for jobs because it's so bad. i think that's going to come back to haunt the president, sooner rather than later. >> mr. giuliani, thank you for joining us on the program. see you soon. thanks so much. moody's fires a warning shot to congress. meanwhile, the white house on u.s. debt, but is anybody in washington listening? we'll put the number two democratic congressman steny

hoyer in the hot seat. it's an interview you'll only see on this network. don't miss it. then facebook's mark zuckerberg speaks for the first time since his company's botched ipo. is it time for him to hand over t the reigns to somebody else? and we'll talk about the government's $12 billion profit from the controversial bailout of aig and more. stick around. "closing bell" continues. i'm freaking out man.

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welcome back. paying off government debt, a profit to taxpayers. one of the promises aig ceo ben benmosche made when taking over. according to the treasury, taxpayers are likely to make more than $15 billion on the bailout. bob benmosche joins me now to talk about this milestone moment. bob, did this happen sooner than you expected, longer? would you have wanted it to happen years ago? tell me your take on this important element. >> it happened sooner than we thought. you know, we had a plan, and we expected more of this to happen probably in 2013, to begin to come down. clearly, the ability for the fed to sell off and be able to raise cash for us and continue to monetize some of aia put us in a position where we felt we could do more this time, and it's allowed us to -- with the shoe that was exercised today, the

over allotment, the u.s. pressure treasury is now below 16% of aig. we think they can sell off the rest into the market without a big offering going forward. it's up to them to decide how they want to do that. >> so they are looking to get out entirely of the stakes. now that underwriter, selling that shoe, you get under 16%. do you have a sense of when you unwinds, when they unwind that position entirely? >> we'll have to wait two months because there's a lockup. after that, i'll expect they'll sell it as rapidly as it makes sense to do that without disrupting the market. i think they'll be out quickly. >> the asian subsidiary, we've talked in the past, is one of the jewels of the company. you sell a -- >> we had a lot of jewels in aig. >> fair point. >> the problem is there isn't one. the whole company had so many great parts to it. it's unfortunate that this crisis occurred with a very small part of the company. very small. i would say maybe 15, 20, 30 people involved out of 100,000.

so it was very small. it's a shame because that little thing caused this huge explosion. but yet, the crown jewels are the property casualty business, the life business, and the annuity business as well as the global business. we have quite a few left. >> will you have to sell more of aia to get the government out further? give me a sense of the cash and what you do with it. are you going to have to tap into it more? is that the plan? >> no, we're done buying for now. we still have to focus on our debt. we have to focus on our coverage ratio, which is important. make sure that we have the right strength. remember, we make promises. we want to make sure our credit ratings stay high. we're going to do that. we expect that once the treasury is sold out, hopefully, you know, by mid year next year, we're then in a position to be able to pay a dividend, for example, to our shareholders. we'd want to be able to consider that. first, we want to stay strong. we want to make sure when the fed arrives that they see a very

strong capital base so that we have more flexibility that if we choose to buy back stock, once we do our testing with the fed, we'll be able to do that. >> i'm glad you brought that up. that's where i was going, bob. i think you knew that. stockholders worry. you have the federal reserve tailing you, how and when to spend cash. if you want to continue buying back stock, you say you're done for now. that's another pressure on cash. how do you pay a dividend? how do you do shareholder friendly things? what's the plan? >> the plan is simple. maintain a strong capital base. make sure you can handle any stress as we go through the stress testing, that we can handle another financial market meltdown. we have to show that. as long as we have good operating earnings, we run the company the right way, we have a strong capital base, and we maintain capital flexibility so we're not on the edge and there's comfort we can handle a stress event, then we have all the flexibility in the world.

the federal reserve regulates other companies that are in snl holding status. they buy back shares. it's because their capital is strong. you can't live on that edge. you've got to be able to show some flexibility. our cash position today, we're not short cash. we have $11.5 billion of cash right now. that's a lot of money. it's there to protect our insurance companies. there's excess, and we have additional capital. so aia gives us more cash flexibility because we have an asset we can sell. our goal is to continue our capital management, do it on a steady basis, make sure we stay strong, make sure the rating agencies feel we are very strong, to live up to the promises we make to our clients, and we can continue to grow our businesses. >> is the dividend in the cards in 2013? >> i can't tell you when the treasury is gone or what the board will decide, but i believe strategically we should have a dividend on this stock, and once we're able to do that and we pass all the tests and everybody is satisfied, i think that's

something we'd like to be able to do. >> the aircraft leasing business to give me more cash. where is that in terms ofs is aet sales? >> we're still working on that. the market is not ready for that. there's a lot of concern in the industry. we've had some bankruptcies. that's going to take longer to get done. >> in terms of the regulatory overtight from the federal reserve, would you be prepared to sell the thrift so you don't have that pressure? >> we're planning to probably close it or sell it now. one of the concerns we have, and it's unfortunate ""the wall street journal"" kind of said some things thaoday that are inappropriate, but we want this. as a rule, the volcker rule doesn't really work for insurance companies as it does for banks. some of the investments they want to prohibit, an insurance company has to make because of a long liability. so we feel the complication of

that is to simplify our company. it's less than $1 billion in deposits. that's why we've chosen to close the bank. not because we're concerned about federal regulation. we encourage federal regulation because we want our clients, for sure, to know that we're regulated and when we make promises, somebody's watching over our shoulder making sure we don't do what we did before and cause these problems. >> which is why you've been working so close with regulators. >> absolutely. >> right in step with them. let me switch gears, ask you about the moody's warning today. moody's saying if this country does not get its own financial issues in order going off the fiscal cliff, we'll get another downgrade of the u.s. debt. what's your take on that? what are the implications of perhaps a moody's gown grade? >> i think what moody's is saying is that we have to finally decide what regulations we want to have, what rules we'll play by so banks and other financial institutions can go back to business the right way.

everybody is contracting. when you contract as a bank, you make less loans. you can't fund future growth. in fact, you kill jobs that are part of your own institution. we've got to be able to get this thing decided, get congress and our government to work together, and we've got to start coming up with policies, resolve the regulatory issues, and let people go back to work and invest in making money and growing this country. that's important. i think that's what moody's is concerned about. more concern, more issues that are unresolved says how do you invest capital in that kind of market? you go to asia, which is in certain parts of asia, it's more stable. you're going to go to where it's stable. you're going to make stability here. give people a sense of confidence in the future and we'll see more investments and more job growth. >> which is the point we made yesterday. money is mobile. think we see a change in leadership in november? >> i think there will be a new president or old president. not sure who it will be. >> who are you supporting? >> i support the president of

the united states. whoever that may be. >> bob, good to have you on the program. obviously investors had a great day today. aig trades up, 3345 is where it closed. we'll be watching the developments. thanks for your time today. >> thank you, maria. >> always good to see you. >> happy birthday. >> thank you so much, bob. gridlock on the fiscal cliff. eric cantor pointing the blame at president obama's doorstep just an hour ago. >> frankly, the president's been unwilling to meet us to sit down and try an iron out the differences. >> now we get the other side. steny hoyer is we me, the second most powerful dem in congress. he'll join me after this break. you won't want to miss it. stay with us on that. later, with facebook's stock slumping to half the original ipo price s it time for mark zuckerberg to hands over the reigns to a more seasoned executive? then we'll take you live to an event he's speaking at. you're watching "closing bell" on cnbc, first in business worldwide. oh, hey alex. just picking up some, brochures, posters

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welcome back. as we've been telling you today, moody's saying the u.s. is at risk of losing its top-notch credit rating, and it all comes down to congress. what a surprise. if they can't strike a deal on debt, we'll be downgraded.

earlier, spoke with eric cantor to get the republican side of the story. what do the democrats have to say? let's get into it. joining me now is the second most powerful democrat in the house, congressman steny hoyer. congressman, good to have you. thanks so much for joining us. >> good to be with you, maria. >> let me kick it off with the moody's downgrade today. when is the blame game going to come to an end and some real changes happen? >> hopefully it will come together before the end of the year. i've been working on that. others have been working on that. contrary to what i heard mr. cantor say, the president of the united states in the 32 years i've been in congress has spent more time working with republicans and frankly with democrats in the white house around his conference table to try to get to an agreement. the republicans walked away from the bowles-simpson plan. they walked away from the joe biden talks. mr. cantor himself walked away from those. and they walked away from the

boehner/obama agreement. so i'm hopeful that we will come to agreement. i think moody's is correct. if we don't, we will undermine confidence and undermine credibility of the united states. we need to come to agreement. we need to sit down together and reason together and adopt a balanced plan. that's the trick. >> so what's your vision? when would you expect an agreement? >> i don't expect any agreement before the election. i think frankly the republican posture has been that they're right, that the obama administration has been wrong on growing the economy. i think they're wrong on that, but that's been their position. and i don't think they're going to come to any agreement prior to the election. i think it's not a context for an agreement. what i'm hopeful is that we will not waste the lame duck and that we will very shortly after the

election engage in a way that shows patriotism and commitment to country, not to party. >> right. well, we did hear from house majority leader eric cantor earlier. he said the fault lies exactly with the white house and senate for standing in the way of progress. let me get your reaction to what he had to say. listen to this, sir. >> all there's been over the last couple years is a one-way street. we're looking for action by the president and the white house to come to the table with us on all the issues that we're confronting, whether it is the fiscal issue of the deficit, whether it is the sequestration issue, or whether it's the tax issue. we continue to put forward solutions. we have passed bill after bill. the senate has been unwilling to take them up. frankly, the president's been unwilling to meet us to sit down and try to iron out the differences. >> so there it is. what do you say to those claim, congressman? >> it's spin. totally spin, without substance. very frankly -- >> so you have -- >> listen, nobody that's been

watching the congress of the united states believes that the republicans have done anything but confront the administration, the united states senate, and frankly some in their own party over the last two or four years to try to defeat this president. they have not been in a mood to compromise. they've not chosen compromise at any point in time. as i said earlier, they walked away from the bowles/simpson balanced plan. all three republicans walked away from that, including vice presidential candidate mr. ryan. mr. cantor, who speaks about nonkroopno noncooperation, walked away from the biden talks. >> it seems like -- and it's revenues. >> yeah, sure. >> that's the bottom line here. >> taxes is what we're talking about. let me ask you this -- >> every bipartisan commission says you can't do it without entitlements. >> we keep saying tax increases

on the rich, those people who make more than $200,000. i got to tell you, i've got friends -- one of my good friend, actually they work for government. one is working for security, fbi. another in the da's office. they make about $250,000 as a couple after they pay for the kids and the food and whatever they need just to get by, they don't have a lot of money left over. where does this number, $250,000 for a couple, come from? do you really think $200,000 for an individual, that person should be paying higher taxes in this economy right now? is that the number? >> look, i think we need to price our product. the things we have government buy, whether it's defending our country abroad, building roads at home, providing education, providing law enforcement, cia to keep us safe, nih, whatever it is -- >> you're saying yes. >> we need to make a determination. do we want it? if we don't want it, then we don't have to pay for it. if we want it, yes, we need to

pay for it. who's going to pay for it? those people who have resources to help pay the bills of our country. we made decisions. we're buying a lot. the republicans, frankly, in my view, have not cut spending under ronald reagan or under george bush i or george bush ii. >> it's an important question. a person who's making $200,000 may not feel rich, may not feel like a millionaire or billionaire, which has been the narrative there. i'm wondering if, in fact, that person is going to get really hurt in a fragile economy, if their taxes go up, the biggest tax increase since world war ii. >> then, fine, we'll stop buying stuff. if we're going buy stuff, we need to pay for it. >> or stop spending. >> that's what i mean. stop spending. if you don't want to buy it, don't buy it. the fact of the matter is that we have bought stuff. we have debts. we need to pay them. very frankly, the average -- i understand what you're saying, but the average family is making somewhere between 50 and $60,000

in this country. certainly you don't want to ask them. they're the ones that are scraping by, having a tough time. some of us who have a little more are going to have to pay a little more and maybe get a little less. we have to get this country on a fiscally sustainable path. >> i think our viewers and certainly the country want that to happen. we'll be watching. good to have you on the program, congressman. thank you. >> thank you. >> we'll see you soon. tick to be on mark zuckerberg's first public address since facebook's disastrous debut. we'll talk about whether he should leave facebook's helm to a more seasoned veteran. that's next. and want to move your money before tomorrow's opening bell rings? stick around. we have wall street's top money man coming up. back in a moment. nsh [ mujahid ] there was a little bit of trepidation,

not quite knowing what the next phase was going to be, you know, because you been, you know, this is what you had been doing. you know, working, working, working, working, working, working. and now you're talking about, well you know, i won't be, and i get the chance to spend more time with my wife and my kids. it's my world. that's my world. ♪

wanted to provide better employee benefits while balancing the company's bottom line, their very first word was... [ to the tune of "lullaby and good night" ] ♪ af-lac ♪ aflac [ male announcer ] find out more at... [ duck ] aflac! [ male announcer ] ...forbusiness.com. [ yawning sound ] phil. >> the ford board will be meeting this week, and the topic to be discussed, one of them is succession planning for the ceo. one possibility, we understand, that is being discussed is naming mark fields, who is currently the president of the americas coo. a final decision has not yet been reached, according to people we've talked with. the board would clearly be sending a message to the market that mr. fields would eventually be the replacement if the time comes. again, mark fields apparently is, you know, they're thinking about moving him up into the coo

position. officially, ford says it has no comment on personnel moves back to you. >> all right, phil. thanks so much. at the top of the hour, facebook founder and current ceo mark zuckerberg will make his first public comments since the company's ipo. the stock has plummeted about 50%. many say zuckerberg has not shown the leadership or visibility needed as this stock has gotten hammered and hammered again. some going as far as saying facebook would benefit from a change. the geek factory ceo is one of them. but suzanne mcgee says that's ridiculous and it's too early to tell. peter, you say maybe he's not the best guy to run the company. tell us more. why do you feel that way? >> fact of the matter is, mark zuckerberg is a spectacular entrepreneur. he'll go down in history for that which bound us together. however, he's not a ceo for a publicly traded company. he has a spectacular bench a

bench with some of the most brilliant minds in the world. let him go back to a desk where he can create, where he can make things that made facebook what it is. unfortunately, it comes down to psychology. there's someone leading the company who's not. let's face it, nine years in college. >> this is a founder. do you really want to take out the guy who's founded the company and has the vision? >> no someone saying take him out. let him have the vision. everything good on facebook has come from his vision. from timeline down to poking. we might not love timeline, but he created these great things. let someone else become the face for the investors. >> all right. suzanne, what do you think about that? isn't the fact the stock has lost half its value enough? >> i don't think you make a decision like that in the first 100 days of a ceo's tenure. the people in the best position to make that decision have been watching zuckerberg for years.

these kinds of strategic decisions about whether to keep a founder/ceo in place up to and after the ipo are ones that are made very carefully and thoughtfully in advance. obviously the people who fina e financed facebook, who are in the board seats are in a position to make that judgment. they decided let's go with this guy. >> at what point does the board throw the towel in on zuckerberg? do we look for further declines in this stock? >> i think i'd be surprised to see him there in two years. certainly i'd be surprised to see him there in another year if the price doesn't recover. give him time elucidate a strategic vision for the country. let's wait and see what he has to say. >> can the board even do it? does the board have the power to throw him out? is this guy the main show in town? he's got voting control. >> he has voting control, but i think he's reasonable enough to realize that, you know, at some point at end of the day if he's not good for the company, maybe he has other things he wants pursue. maybe he wants to go into a side office and think it through.

>> all right. we'll keep following that. we'll wait for zuckerberg's speech momentarily. we'll go there live. thank you very much. "fast money" begins in a few minutes. they're all over this story. melissa lee with a sneak peek. >> hey, maria. top of the hour on "fast money," i've got one word for you. we're looking at the tech crunch conference where mark zuckerberg will be giving his first conference since the facebook ipo. and then which stock looks like it could be headed for a breakdown? it's been a market leader on the s&p 500. tune in for the name. all that and much more, top of the hour on "fast." see you then. >> all right. we'll be there a few minutes away. we'll turn up the heat next on the marks. tomorrow morning, what's going to move your money? stick around. what they say could put extra bucks in your pocket. then my observation on american resilience 11 years after the day that changed everything. back in a moment. we want to improve our schools...

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welcome back. 30 seconds on the clock. our next guests will tell us what they think will move money

tomorrow. dan, global financial and peter with me. dan kick it off with you. 30 seconds on the clock. what are you watching for tomorrow? >> we are looking for possibly three things. number one, news out of germany regarding the bailout package. we think that will positively impact the risk markets, favorable developments over there could push the s&p 500 past the 1440 level. if it breaks that threshold traders would jump in and significant resistance on the index doesn't occur until 1,500. >> chris you're up. what do you want to watch for tomorrow? >> tomorrow everybody will be reacting or stressing out about the german court and the apple iphone 5 decision. 12 hours later the qe 3 is not

done. china's stimulus will be coming down the line. >> and the german result on the bailout fund. peter over to you. 30 seconds on the clock. what do you want to watch for tomorrow? >> tomorrow the department of energy inventory data. we watch the clause way back after having a brutal second quarter. they are poised to break higher. if the inventory data sets up the right psychology we could see new highs. this could be powerful for energy stocks across the board. we think it could set the psychology up and be good for us. >> you are expecting the momentum to continue then. >> yes, we are. >> appreciate your time tonight. thanks for sticking with the time on our clock, 30 seconds. see you soon and we will be watching developments tomorrow in the trade section. today marks the 11th

anniversary on the 9/11 attacks. my thoughts next on the day that changed everything. back in a moment. bob...

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observation about resilience and strength. i was down here on that dreadful day 11 years ago on september 11th. when i look at those pictures of smoke billowing and the metal and paper flying through the air and the confusion i am horrified. more than that i remain so impressed as an american that not only did we survive this tragedy but have thrived. i remember standing on the corner and calling into the show in the morning to tell our viewers what my eyes were seeing. i remember hiding in a little stairwell at the met life building right across the street from the new york stock exchange until eric noticed me covered in soot. i remember what happened less than a week later when the courageous fire men and police and emergency squad members rang the opening bell along with new york's mayor, governor and dick raszo. the attack was on a tuesday.

the market reopened the following monday. i remember that sorrowful and uncertain day of september 17th when we all stood together and watched them ring that opening bell. it was as if we were literally rising from the ashes. it was the proudest day of my life to be able to interview these stewards of american capitalism who was the target on 9/11. we were down and we were hurt but we stood tall and we stood together. that is the america i know. the resilient, the strong, the most wonderful and freest country on earth. this is a day to say thank you america for being the greatest country in the world and an eternal grateful for those who lost their lives 11 years ago. the fire men especially, those running into the buildings as we were all running out. even more than a decade later it